Terrestrial communication systems continue to provide higher and higher speed multimedia (e.g., voice, data, video, images, etc.) services to end-users. Such services (e.g., Third Generation (3G) services) can also accommodate differentiated quality of service (QoS) across various applications. To facilitate this, terrestrial architectures are moving towards an end-to-end all-Internet Protocol (IP) architecture that unifies all services, including voice, over the IP bearer. In parallel, mobile satellite systems are being designed to complement and/or co-exist with terrestrial coverage depending on spectrum sharing rules and operator choice. With the advances in processing power of desktop computers, the average user has grown accustomed to sophisticated applications (e.g., streaming video, radio broadcasts, video games, etc.), which place tremendous strain on network resources. The Web as well as other Internet services rely on protocols and networking architectures that offer great flexibility and robustness; however, such infrastructure may be inefficient in transporting Web traffic, which can result in large user response time, particularly if the traffic has to traverse an intermediary network with a relatively large latency (e.g., a satellite network). To promote greater adoption of data communication services, the telecommunication industry, from manufacturers to service providers, has agreed at great expense and effort to develop standards for communication protocols that underlie the various services and features.
Satellite systems possess unique design challenges over terrestrial systems. That is, mobile satellite systems have different attributes that make terrestrial designs either not applicable or inefficient for satellite systems. For example, satellite systems are characterized by long delays (as long as 260 ms one-way) between a user-terminal device and a base-station compared to the relatively shorter delays (e.g., millisecond or less) in terrestrial cellular systems—this implies that protocols on the satellite links have to be enhanced to minimize impact of long propagation delays. Additionally, satellite links typically have smaller link margins than terrestrial links for a given user-terminal power amplifier and antenna characteristics; this implies that higher spectral efficiency and power efficiency are needed in satellite links.
Some Exemplary Embodiments
Therefore, there is a need for an approach for providing efficient use of spectral resources of a satellite system when operating with terrestrial systems.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a method comprises receiving one or more packets associated with a data communication session from a terrestrial network configured to provide cellular communications. The method also comprises generating a frame representing the packet for transmission over a satellite link to a user terminal. Signaling information for the transmission of the packet over the terrestrial network is modified or eliminated for transmission over the satellite link.
According to another embodiment of the invention, an apparatus comprises a terrestrial interface configured to receive one or more packets associated with a data communication session from a terrestrial network configured to provide cellular communications. The apparatus also comprises a satellite interface configured to generate a frame representing the packet for transmission over a satellite link to a user terminal.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, a method comprises receiving a plurality of frames from a satellite, wherein the frames represent a multimedia session transported over a terrestrial network configured to provide cellular communications. The method also comprises generating one or more packets by modifying or adding overhead information to information transported over the frames.
Still other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description, simply by illustrating a number of particular embodiments and implementations, including the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. The invention is also capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details can be modified in various obvious respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.